Changes to OCT teacher certification requirements (for MT / MA-CSE students in their final semester)

The Ontario College of Teachers announced changes to teacher certification requirements due to COVID-19 for MT and MA-CSE students completing their final semester of their program.

- Practicum: Ontario applicants will not have to complete their remaining practicum to qualify for certification if they are unable to do so solely because of school closures related to COVID-19. All other program components must be completed by December 31, 2020 or the day after Ontario’s state of emergency is over (whichever is later). See OCT news release for details.

- Math Proficiency Test: The College has worked closely with the government in order to enable Ontario faculty of education teacher candidates who complete their application on or after March 31, 2020, to be certified, with condition. The condition stipulates that the applicant must successfully complete the Math Proficiency Test by August 31, 2021. See OCT news release for details.[Posted: Apr 27, 2020]

Completion of 2020 Winter Session Courses

Choosing CR/NCR final grading for OISE Winter Courses
At this time, SGS is working with the Provost’s Office to bring forward an amendment to policy that would allow students in OISE professional programs to elect CR/NCR in their courses. Should this amendment be approved through the institutional governance process, graduate students in courses using the letter grade scale in Winter 2020 courses would be given the option to retroactively elect CR/NCR from June 5 - 30, 2020 on ACORN. For information on the impact of choosing CR/NCR on future admission to OISE graduate programs, please see the section CR/NCR Impact on Your Application and Admission below.[Posted: May 11, 2020]

The dates for instructor submission of grades have been clarified. For those students who are graduating in June, the grade submission date may be extended if required from April 13th to a final deadline of May 4th (though sooner is appreciated) upon request to the ORSS. For all other students the grade submission date has been extended from May 6th to May 29th.[Posted: April 2, 2020]

Most departmental examinations (e.g. qualifying, comprehensive, and/or general examinations) can take place without physical presence. More information will follow from your graduate program regarding arrangements for the completion of departmental examinations in your program.[Posted: Mar 23, 2020]

For Placements, Internships and Other Program Requirements, please refer to your graduate program for further information. [Posted: Mar 23, 2020]

UofT Convocation Ceremony & OISE Graduation Celebration

On June 2nd, the University of Toronto will confer the degrees of the June 2020 class in absentia due to the physical distancing restrictions for large gatherings. Please be sure to visit the UofT Convocation Hub for full details of the June 2nd virtual ceremony.[Posted: May 25, 2020]

OISE is hosting a virtual graduation celebration on June 16th (all degrees except teacher education) and June 26th (teacher education degrees). More details will be sent to all graduates and to faculty and staff on how you can participate in celebrating the achievements of our class of June 2020.[Posted: May 25, 2020]

Diplomas will be couriered directly to students as soon as possible after the originally scheduled degree conferral date (original convocation ceremony date). To locate your degree conferral date, please refer to the date listings. Students should ensure their address is up-to-date on ACORN.[Posted: May 25, 2020]

All Convocation ceremonies for the Spring 2020 season, previously scheduled to take place from June 2-19, have been cancelled. Students who complete their degree requirements will still graduate and receive their degrees and parchments. Read President's announcement and Office of Convocation FAQs.[Posted: Mar 30, 2020]

Documentation Requests

If documentation in support of legal proceedings is required, please note that student files are paper-based and we cannot fulfill requests until such time as we are advised to return to the office after the COVID-19 outbreak.[Posted: April 13, 2020]

Final Oral Exams

The School of Graduate Studies (SGS) is requiring that every doctoral final oral examination (FOE) be held remotely until further notice, and is allowing accomodations to enable this. In line with the guidance provided by SGS, OISE has implemented temporary procedures for FOEs. Examinations are proceeding as scheduled, remotely. Candidates who wish to have an in-person FOE must have it postponed and should inform the ORSS as soon as possible.[Posted: Mar 23, 2020]

​Getting a TCard (for students starting in fall 2020)

Students who have accepted their U of T offer of admission will be able to obtain their UTORid/TCard (and UofT email) starting June 1st. More information will be posted in May regarding how to obtain your UTORid and TCard on the TCard Office website.[Posted: Apr 27, 2020]

Research

All lab-based research operations have been shut down on March 20, 2020, other than critical COVID-19 research and time-sensitive critical projects. Other research settings, including many off-campus sites, have also been shut down. Please stay informed of the status of activities in your own research setting. In many cases, plans for future research may also need to be changed and contingency plans developed. Consult with your research supervisor about your planning. Please consult the website of the Office of Vice-President Research and Innovation for updates. [Posted: Mar 23, 2020]

Spring/Summer Courses

ALL OISE Spring/Summer 2020 courses (May-June and July-August) are offered as online courses only. They may be offered synchronously at a given time of the week, or asynchronously. As individual course offering formats (synchronous or asynchronous) are finalized, the comments column in the course schedule will be updated accordingly.

Graduate students registered with Accessibility Services should continue to contact Accessibility Services to receive accommodations and supports. Special updates for students registered at Accessibility Services can be found at: COVID-19 and Accessibility Services[Posted: Mar 23, 2020]

If you are a student registered with Accessibility Services and are concerned about doing well in online formats:
We recommend you start by contacting your instructor to see what individual accommodations can be considered for your course. If this is not a realistic option, or if you still have questions or concerns, please consult your Accessibility Advisor to discuss next steps. [Posted: Mar 23, 2020]

If you are a student who usually writes tests and exams with accessibility related accommodations:
Students should continue to register to receive accessibility related accommodations for their test/exams using the Accessibility Services Student Portal. Accommodated Testing Services will be reaching out to you in order to provide you with an option to write either online with the class as scheduled, or at the Test Centre on 255 McCaul Street. Please note that the accommodations that can be provided through online testing arranged by the instructor (i.e. if you are not writing at the test centre) are limited to extra time only. If writing at the Test Centre, staff will work to put in place your regular accommodation plan.[Posted: Mar 23, 2020]

If you are an international student and require a proof of enrollment letter to extend your study permit, work permit or visa, contact your Registration Specialist.[Posted: Mar 27, 2020]

Revised post-graduation work permit rules announced on Thursday, May 14 by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) mean that post-graduation work permit eligibility won't be affected if Fall 2020 courses are online due to COVID-19. Students can begin programs online from outside Canada and complete up to 50% of them from outside Canada. More details in the announcement itself: canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/pgwpp-rules-covid19.html[Posted: May 15, 2020]

The ORSS has sent out a notice to OISE students regarding Drop-in Office Hours for OISE students. *[Updated: June 2, 2020]

Financial Support

If your employment income has been disrupted and are experiencing immediate financial hardship, you can apply for an OISE Emergency Bursary. The application for summer bursary assistance is open. The application closes on July 26, 2020.[Updated: May 27, 2020]

The Application for the Canada Emergency Student Benefit is open. Students who do not already have a CRA account are advised to set one up without delay.

You will need to re-apply for each 4-week period that you are eligible for. To find the best day for you to re-apply, refer to: Determine when to apply

OISE students who are not eligible for the Canada Emergency Student Benefit, but whose income has been reduced or eliminated by COVID-19 related work disruption, illness, quarantine or forced to stay home to care for children may be eligible for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and/or Employment Insurance which has special COVID provisions.[Updated: May 27, 2020]

The ORSS has sent out an information bulletin for OISE students summarizing some of the finanical support offered by OSAP, the Governement of Canada, OISE and the University.[Posted: Apr 26, 2020]

Repayment of OSAP and Canada Student Loans (and all other provincially administered loans) have announced a suspension of payments for 6 months (until September 30). For more details see: https://www.csnpe-nslsc.canada.ca/en/what-is-new [Updated: April 15, 2020]

Funded graduate students, including those on stipends, will continue to receive their funding packages as stated in their funding letters. Questions related to the funding package, OISE GA and TA contracts can be directed to oise.gradfinasst@utoronto.ca[Posted: Mar 23, 2020]

Current GA and TA contracts (and where applicable, RF contracts for funded students) at OISE may need to be adjusted to reflect the fact that some aspects of the appointment may no longer be conducted in-person. The overall number of hours allocated in the contracts will not be reduced.[Posted: Mar 23, 2020]

Current TA contracts for OISE graduate students who have appointments with other University of Toronto divisions may need to be adjusted to reflect the fact that undergraduate courses are no longer in-person, but the overall number of hours allocated in the contracts will not be reduced.[Posted: Mar 23, 2020]

Admissions

This section last updated: May 15, 2020 **

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, processing of application files will take longer than normal. This includes managing new applications, responding to inquiries, and providing result letters via the online admissions application. Due to very limited time on campus, there will be a significant delay processing transcripts received by mail, so applicants are strongly encouraged to upload all required online transcripts (electronic records) via the online admissions application.[Posted: Mar 23, 2020]

CR/NCR Impact on Your Application and Admission

If you are completing the final year of your bachelor’s degree, your post-secondary institution may present the option of changing a course to “Credit” or “No Credit” (CR/NCR). This means no grade will appear on your official transcript, it will simply reflect if the course was successfully passed (CR) or not (NCR). The University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies (SGS) establishes policy regarding the academic assessment of a transcript. SGS has not communicated any policy change related to COVID-19, so how we do assessments has not changed.

If there is no grade showing, there is no grade to include in our assessment. We’ll simply not count CR/NCR courses in our calculation. Sometimes not counting courses transitions a full-time assessment to a part-time assessment:

If your bachelor's degree was completed on a full-time basis, average the final year.

If your bachelor's degree was completed on a part-time basis, average the five (approximately) most recent, senior-level, full courses or equivalent (students enrolled in fewer than four full course equivalents in their last academic year – including Summer Session – are considered part-time).

If you are completing the final year of your master’s degree, our academic assessment averages all graded courses completed for the entire master's program. We’ll simply not count CR/NCR courses in our calculation.

CR/NCR courses can sometimes advantage a student (eliminating a potentially poor grade), but also disadvantage a student (eliminating a potentially strong grade). Ultimately, if you are presented with the option to change a course to CR/NCR, the choice is yours.[Posted: Mar 27, 2020]

Official transcripts

If you previously received an offer of admission with a condition that requires submission of an official transcript (a paper record received by the Office of the Registrar and Student Services in a sealed envelope, signed/stamped by the issuing institution) and made arrangements for the transcript to be provided, please be patient because receipt and review of the transcript will be delayed. If you have newly received an offer of admission with a condition that requires submission of an official transcript, if possible make arrangements for the transcript but understand there will be a delay processing such records. It is important to stress that all students are allowed to enroll in courses and register (pay tuition fees) when conditions of admission are not yet fulfilled.[Posted: Mar 23, 2020]

Tuition fee deposit **

OISE has two programs that require a $300 tuition deposit due June 1, 2020: Master of Teaching in Teaching, and Master of Arts in Child Study and Education. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, currently it is not possible to pay your tuition deposit with a certified cheque or money order (the University of Toronto Student Accounts Office cannot deposit funds because their bank branch is closed). Online payment is the only option, and it’s now available.

Make an online Mastercard or Visa credit card payment by logging-in to your ACORN account. Use the JOINid credentials that were e-mailed to you when you completed and submitted your online admissions application. If you have been offered admission to more than one program, be very careful to direct your payment to the program you confirmed (Confirmation Form submitted) and want to undertake.

There is a convenience fee when paying online, which is billed by the Moneris credit card service provider. This fee is non-refundable, even if you decide not to study at the University of Toronto. This convenience fee is charged at a rate of 1.75% of the fee payment. It is billed directly by Moneris and is not remitted to the University of Toronto.[Posted: May 15, 2020]

International Students (Proof of English Language Proficiency)

As English is the primary language of instruction and communication at the University of Toronto, applicants must demonstrate an adequate level of proficiency in English, regardless of citizenship status or country of origin. The University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies provides detailed information regarding English language proficiency and testing requirements (OISE requires minimum scores for all tests and Academic Division Social Sciences for TOEFL). An offer of admission will not be presented until this requirement is satisfied.

Applicants who are currently not able to take a test at an English Language Testing Centre may complete one of the following alternatives:

TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition:Educational Testing Service (ETS) has launched an at-home testing solution for the TOEFL iBT test for individuals who have been affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Online testing is now available worldwide, with some exceptions. Review the ETS website for the most up-to-date information.

Duolingo English Test (DET):
Temporarily, the Duolingo English Test (DET) will be accepted to satisfy the English language proficiency requirement, with the following conditions:

The DET option only applies to applicants from regions where TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition is not available (currently Mainland China and Iran). DET results will not be accepted from countries where the TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition is available.

Admission to Fall 2020 session (September) only.

The test must be taken after February 1, 2020.

The minimum acceptable score is 120.

For all English language proficiency tests (including TOEFL iBT and Duolingo English Test) results must be official, so you must arrange for your scores to be reported electronically to the University of Toronto by the testing agency. Also, you must advise the Office of the Registrar and Student Services when your official test scores are available for review at admissions.oise@utoronto.ca.[Posted: May 11, 2020]

When evidence of English language proficiency is required an offer of admission will not be issued until the requirement is fully satisfied. However, programs may allow for additional time (well beyond the two week timeframe stated in our “Proof of English Language Proficiency” letter). You can connect with the applicable program for information about your particular situation. The Office of the Registrar and Student Services will not cancel any potential offer of admission unless directed to do so by a program.[Posted: Mar 23, 2020]